During the summer I was interviewed for a new film about how a group of American fans experienced the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, including the qualifying leading up to it. I think I made the cut. The trailer for the film, “Laduma” is now on Youtube and it is hitting the festival circuit (it’s showing tomorrow night in Philadelphia, at a film festival in Pennsylvania next month and I know there’s a New York City screening also lined up in the near future).
The CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland (they study football) recently put out an interactive map trying to show where footballers playing in the top five European leagues come from. Unsurprisingly, West Africa’s big five – Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria and Cameroon – dominate the African numbers, each contributing around 20 players.
Remember way back when in 2011, when I shouted out Egypt’s crazed football fans for kicking ass during and after the fall of Mubarak? Well, in honor of the upcoming protests marking one year since the initial #Jan25 uprising, it looks like the Egyptian Football Association has decided to pick sides–the wrong side–again.
Academic and soccer fan Andrew Guest previews the 2012 African Cup of Nations for Football is Coming Home. He points to the French influence on teams that qualfied for the finals that start later this week. The post that comes complete with a table illustrating his findings.
I finally got around to reading the piece (in The New Yorker ) about football culture among fanatical supporters of Beşiktas, one of the three big three clubs in Istanbul, Turkey, by the writer Elif Batuman. Unfortunately you need to pay to read the piece. But here is a short excerpt: Deniz has attended all but two of […]
We’re allowed to talk about the 2010 World Cup until 2014. Later today our man, historian of African soccer, Peter Alegi, will deliver the keynote address at the 7th Sports in Africa Symposium at Ohio University. Since few of us are in Athens, don’t panic: The whole thing–including Peter’s keynote–will be webcasted live here. Here’s […]
Look out for a a special issue of African Journalism Studies on “The Fifa World Cup 2010 in the News.” I guest edited. While you’re contemplating whether you’d pay to read the opinions of academics on the greatest sporting event in the world, here’s the relevant parts from my introduction to the special issue:
Sean Jacobs This is worth remembering. In 2004 the Liberian footballer George Weah was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the Espys. (For those who don’t care: that’s sports channel ESPN’s versions of the Oscars.) This is the man who scored the greatest goal of all time and the only African player to win […]
